Inevitable
by Xleste
Summary: Story picks up after the Season 2 finale, addressing the summer apart, fall re-meeting, and eventually inevitably progressing. Formerly "What Would Space Cowboy Do?", from when it was a one-shot. Unabashedly Castle/Beckett.
1. Summer

_Disclaimer:_ I do not own Castle.

_Author's Note 5/25/10:_ This was inspired by my sister who asked to read it after I wrote it and then told me to keep going, and Kavi Leighanna who said "just write" in the first place - early this morning. I've never written fanfic, or fiction in my life, aside from MUSHing. I'm slightly baffled as to why Castle has taken enough resident space in my brain to actually inspire it. I don't know where I'll go with this, but a muse seems to have woken and perhaps I understand a wee bit better the first episode of Castle and why he decided to shadow her. (You know, other than the fact that Beckett is gorgeous, smart, sexy, and a perfect foil for his character.) One of the things that struck me in the series was the way that Castle, despite immaturity in other areas, is pretty gracious with his ex-es. This is probably partly a lack of boundaries relating to women, but I also think that there is some maturity in the way he interacts with them. He was certainly more generous with Ellie Monroe than I expected. I'm a psychologist, so I'm having a field day speculating.

_Author's Note Post-Rewrite 5/28/10: _ Thanks to those who read the first two chapters as they were. Unfortunately, as I was stuck going forward, I couldn't think of a way to integrate an idea I had without re-writing the first two chapters again. I'd meant this first foray into fanfic to be a couple drabbles following Kavi Leighanna's encouragement, and then the story wanted plot and the characters wanted more. Plus, the positive feedback and encouragement was really touching and I felt like I wanted it to be better not just for me, but the people kind enough to read and actually give me feedback. Thank you again.

_Spoilers:_ This story begins to take place over the summer between Seasons 2 and 3.

* * *

Beckett removed his name from her short-list of "favorite" (_hah!_) callers on her phone after the first week of summer. Unfortunately, it took her a little longer to break the habit of reaching for her phone to call him when a case hit. Castle would have been familiar with the expression on her face – the slight tightening of her mouth, the crease of her brow – every time it happened.

The summer months weren't without their interesting moments. Alexis called Kate for help in figuring out how to deal with and what to say to a classmate whose parent passed away – not something she wanted to go to Martha or her mother Meredith about. Neither of them mentioned Castle. Demming and Kate occasionally ran into each other in the precinct elevator, in which Kate (to her own vast irritation) heard Castle's voice in her head sing "Awkward!" It was not a voice she wanted internalized at the moment. Sometime late summer, they went out for coffee and set some tentative stones in place for what had the potential of being a friendship – though they avoided anything non-work (and Castle), and instead focused on chatting about their respective cases.

* * *

After spending her vacation days looking for an apartment, Kate finally found one. She'd been worried about having to move to Brooklyn or else live in a shoebox, but getting endlessly sick of the temporary leased housing. Anything like her old rent-controlled apartment was ridiculously expensive. Montgomery called her one day to mention that a friend of his had a rent-controlled loft he wanted to sublet and did she want it? 5B was perfect. It was still small, but the split-level space with sleeping loft above was in a great neighborhood, the light that filled the living area in the afternoons was beautiful, the hardwood floors were made to dance on, and it had an enormous coat closet. The prior owner had thoughtfully installed a jacuzzi tub in otherwise tiny bathroom. She signed the lease and had Lanie over to celebrate the day she moved in.

* * *

A casual query to Esposito and Rick knew Beckett hadn't found a place to live yet. Some nights he still had nightmares about not finding her in the bathtub when her apartment blew up because a psychotic serial murderer targeting Nikki Heat had planted a bomb there. In his dreams, he roams the wreck of her apartment, yelling until his voice is hoarse, and he wakes up gasping and can almost feel the heat of the flames on his face. At one point, he would've offered to just buy her a place, but she wouldn't want to accept a gift of that magnitude from him. He knew her and her pride too well for that. (It already made her uncomfortable that he'd shelled out a hundred grand for a shot at getting her mother's killer.) So he pulled a couple strings, talked to the Mayor, told his financial adviser to create a corporation without his name obviously attached to invest in one of the many bank-foreclosed properties (courtesy of Madoff and the economic crash). His savvy adviser found a choice piece of New York real estate in a trendy little neighborhood (coincidentally not far from Castle's place), and got it casually leaked to Montgomery via the Commissioner. Go figure, the rental of most of the units were even profitable...except for 5B.

* * *

August rolled around and New York continued to be in the grip of a heat wave. Beckett was overheard to threaten shattered kneecaps if anyone in the precinct continued to use the weather as an all-too-convenient lead-in for puns about Heat Wave and Naked Heat, and no one really wanted to cross her. ..though this didn't stop the puns out of her earshot. More folks in the department than would admit to had Naked Heat on pre-order through Amazon, and bets were still flying hot and heavy as to who'd play Nikki, "Roach", and the rest of the crew in the movie version of Heat Wave. (The actress Ellie Monroe's name was floated around in tabloids along with the rumors that she was having alien Castle babies, but the precinct folks all pretty much agreed she couldn't do Beckett justice.)

* * *

In late August, Montgomery was actually humming as he walked through the precinct. "Congratulations, Beckett", Montgomery said, with a wide smile on his face as he passed her desk on the way to his office. "The mayor is really happy about this one. You and your team did an incredible job…and I'm going to make the next request for upgraded equipment while he's still in a good mood."

At least the commendation beat the sympathetic looks Kate caught fleetingly on his face after Memorial Day weekend, uncomfortably echoed on the faces of Lanie, Ryan, and Esposito. She decided she really didn't want to know what they were thinking, and powered through the summer workdays on caffeine, cases overloads, and sleep deprivation.

This particular case that made Bob the Mayor so happy, solved without the help of a certain mystery writer (_thank you very much_), should have been a highlight of the summer. Beckett, Ryan, and Esposito put in grueling hours, combing over obscure evidence in light of the bizarre murder. She'd even called Agent Shaw to pick her brain for insights into the killer's motives, and one of their mutual speculations yielded a hunch that lead to the case breaking wide open. It was an interestingly different experience than theory building with Castle, but she didn't let herself dwell much on the precise nature of "different" or "interesting" (…or "not as fun"). Shaw naturally asked if Beckett still had her complicated and loyal cocker spaniel trailing after her, and the brief silence on the other end of the line before Beckett answered with a soft, "No, he's writing for the summer," told Shaw more than Beckett was prepared to ever admit out loud.

The press was all over the case, no matter how much they tried to keep details from leaking, since the gruesome details of the high-society victim were much more interesting than oil spills in the Gulf and the ongoing tumult of the US economy. The mayor was actually beyond happy. New York's detective heroine immortalized in bestselling fiction deserved the primary (and very public) commendation of the victim's prominent old blood New York family - and in an election year to boot. His campaign manager was milking the story for donations for all it was worth. It even rated its own sidebar in the New York Times, and "Bob" was not one to let good press go.

* * *

…which is how Rick couldn't avoid hearing about the case at his beach house, even at the local cafe. (Sometimes he almost ordered an extra no-fat latte with two pumps of vanilla just…from habit.) Even if he hadn't seen the New York Times at the coffee shop, Paula emailed him a copy of the article, which showed up in full color on his iPhone. If that weren't enough, Martha made a point of letting him know about the article, just like she did with any pre-publicity for Naked Heat and implications in the press about "writer's block". (He occasionally found himself imagining - with a grin rearranging his facial muscles involuntarily - _her_ facial expressions at the flak Kate was sure to get for the new book title…until it home again that he wasn't getting to see them firsthand.)

The article started with,_ "NYPD Detective Kate Beckett, known to the literate world as Richard Castle's beautiful inspiration for Nikki Heat, is back in public eye for her heroic work on the case for Duncan Elliot – descendant of the prominent Elliot family. But where was the famous mystery writer in all this? Rumor has it…"_

The "news" article promptly segued into a gossip blurb, citing sightings of his defection to the Hamptons and rampant speculations about what he was doing there.

* * *

Lanie watched Kate warily over the body of the corpse on the autopsy table. "Escaping the bullpen?", she asked with an arch of the brow. Kate had the New York Times in her right hand, wrinkled from where it was a little too tightly gripped, and launched straight into her rant. "This isn't even news! There are two words about the case and the victim, half of it is about Nikki Heat, and the other half is gossip about _him_!" If the words "Nikki Heat" were infused with fed-up contempt, it was nothing to the disdain with the edge of anger that had been there every time Castle was mentioned all summer. "He's not even around!"

_And that would be the problem, _Lanie thought, regarding Kate sympathetically before turning away to peel off her gloves and wash her hands. "How about drinks?"

"Vodka...lots of vodka...", Kate unhesitatingly replied, dropping the paper in the trash.

* * *

What was conspicuously missing from his iPhone all summer was the caller ID of "Beckett", and he missed that - and her. Castle sat on the back deck of his beach house, staring out over the water. Alexis wasn't there to remind him to put on sunblock, so he was unmindfully burning while navel-gazing. Gina was somewhere in the house, taking a call. He'd developed an uncannily adept ability to tune her out years ago, and it was coming in handy during this stay. There were moments over dinner when he remembered why he married her, enjoying conversations about books they'd read or gossiping about mutual friends. (Gina noticed once how quiet he got during dinner, but figured the Jameson he was sipping went to his head, not realizing it was the cherry cobbler ordered by a nearby couple that was really distracting him.) She was still frustrated with his writing, but at least it was coming along and some scenes were downright brilliant (if he did say so himself - and he did). He particularly loved the scene where Nikki went undercover as a dominatrix. It was awesome. Gina was editing as fast as he was writing, and the book was close to done. (_Take that, Patterson!_) His characters still weren't behaving they way he wanted them to. _Nikki_ wasn't behaving the way he wanted her to… and sometimes he typed in "Kate".

Things with Gina were, if not better than ever, better than they'd been in a very long time and he was actually pretty proud of himself for setting her up with a friend of his that she'd had her eye on after a Fourth of July blowout in the Hamptons. It got her out of the house, and less inclined to nag him about writing every minute.

He thought about the Times article and called the concierge for his Black AmEx. To Ryan and Esposito, he sent a case of beer and a couple revolutionary (though non-carcinogenic) high-end bottles of shaving cream. (Lanie teased Esposito quite a bit for getting more metrosexual and offered to take him to Sex and the City 2 for its release. Ryan tried it out immediately, and Jenny appreciated the results…for a variety of reasons.)

He tried to think of what to send Kate. He was pretty sure she didn't want shaving cream, and he'd already thought of buying her a pony the first time he was exiled from her life. He scowled. Something about this was getting more and more ridiculous. Noble self-sacrificial exile to the Hamptons (as third-world country as that was) so as to be out of the way while she was with Demming just wasn't good style for him, and angst wasn't particularly fun either. Weren't they supposed to be friends, at least? They'd shook hands at the beginning of summer. (He admitted that shaking hands was a pretty wimpy way to end their partnership…especially after he'd saved her life twice in one week by his count, and even broke down the door to her apartment to get to her. Nightmares aside, it was a memory he was still quite proud of, worthy of his Space Cowboy alter ego in his head.)

Then he thought, _Hmm…__what would Space Cowboy do?_


	2. Summer's End

_What would Space Cowboy do?_ Space Cowboy would sweep the damsel off her feet and fly off into the sunset with her on a cool spaceship. He imagined her one of those sexy Indian-style saris that left the flat skin of her midriff bare just begging to be touched, her hair artfully pinned up so tendrils draped enticingly along the long column of her neck (he really loved her neck). He'd slide his hand up the back of her neck to cup her head to bring her face closer to his…so close that he feel the intensity of the heat between them, simmering. (His internal narrative took on the cadences he sometimes employed for the steamy scenes in his books.) He let his mind wander freely, letting his very vivid imagination go….

Why did his fantasies always get cut off by irate female voices? This time it was Gina's sharp, "Richard!", that jerked him out of his reverie. She had nothing on Beckett's voice though.

There was this one time Castle was dreaming one of his favorites, where Kate was playing billiards with him, in a skin tight, lipstick red dress that hugged every curve and ended at mid-thigh and her long, sexy legs were showcased in red leather heels (and he really loved her legs - thought about them ever since the night she'd rescued him from Russians in Chinatown's illegal high stakes poker games). In his dreams, she'd slide her hands down that cue stick in a way that made _his_ hands (and other parts of him) involuntarily clench, and then she'd reach out and tug him closer…

The last time he'd been roused from that fantasy, his back was stiff from falling asleep in "his" chair beside her desk in the bullpen. His elbow had slipped off the edge of her desk and he'd rapped his cheekbone on the hard wood surface, earning a howl of laughter from Ryan. Esposito had a great shot on his camera phone of Castle drooling, and Beckett was standing over him, "Castle!" still ringing in his ears. Actually, his favorite part of that memory was her turning away from him laughing, that full, rich laugh that crinkled the corner of her eyes and the beautiful smile on her face that he tried so hard to continuously evoke. He still swore that the look she sent him over her shoulder was sultry, as she walked away with that subtle, enticing swing to her hips. He spent a lot of time watching her walk - it was one of the best perks of following her around.

He missed the sound of her laughter. He missed the banter and innuendos. He missed that she brought out the best in him (and occasionally the worst).

He thought about Space Cowboy again. Beckett would likely have a problem if he threw her over his shoulder and tried to board a ship with her. Castle gauged his chances of surviving that encounter with his limbs intact as pretty much next to nothing. He considered himself optimistic, not stupid.

Stumped and scowling four hours later, he decided to play Halo. It was either that, or drink, and at least he got to shoot things in Halo. As a bonus, the noise irritated Gina. _(Win!)_

* * *

Gina swore beneath her breath, trying to send out a flurry of late-night emails on her laptop, but Rick was playing Halo again and it irritated the hell out of her. She liked to work hard and play hard, and "control-freak" was one of the characteristics she actually shared with a certain NYPD detective. To her dismay, her primary cash cow (or white whale) was playing games again, instead of writing about Nikki Heat.

She wouldn't have believed him capable of writing an entire novel, much less a series, about a woman he wasn't sleeping with. Sometimes she felt a pang of jealousy, though she was pretty clear when they got divorced that the life she thought she'd have with him wasn't what she was getting. He'd wined and dined her, proposed to her under freakishly cold conditions on a hot air balloon ride, and she thought they'd lead the jet setting life and he was her Prince Charming. While he could be charming, the playboy she'd fallen in love with wanted a mother for Alexis and more kids, and Gina was pretty clear that motherhood wasn't in her future plans. (After raising two half-siblings, she wanted to get away from that life, not settle into it.)

Richard surprised Gina more than once over the summer. She'd harbored some hopes of at least having some steamy sex (that wasn't one of the areas they had a problem with), especially after their late night phone call, but she pragmatically put them aside in favor of nagging him (wifely privileges without a ring, and all the benefits of alimony) until he finished his book. They'd tried the sex the night they arrived– but he was too distant, and she was too pissed about feeling like a substitute before it got much beyond third base. She woke up the next morning fully prepared to make his Hamptons beach house feel like hell had frozen over, and to her shock, he apologized - no excuses, just owning up to it and straight up saying, "I'm sorry." _When the hell did he learn to do that?_!

People change. Gina wondered if Richard had any clue how much he had. The Richard who loved signing the breasts of girls it'd be illegal for him to have sex with wasn't so much in evidence. (The Richard who played Halo 'til two in the morning at an irritatingly loud volume was, alas.) Thank goodness for Jake – and who would've guessed she'd meet him through Rick?

* * *

In the end, it was bizarrely Gina who helped him figure a couple of things out during was possibly the most honest conversation they'd ever had. They stayed up late the last night in the Hamptons that summer, the kind of night that might've once been romantic, with the full moon on the water and a bottle of tequila on the dock after he'd handed her the last pages of his latest book.

"How're things going with Jake?", he asked casually.

A small smile played on Gina's face as she took a sip of tequila. "Well enough. We'll see how it goes." She turned her face towards him, rather than regarding the seascape. "I've learned a little bit of caution." She said it almost matter-of-factly without too much of an edge in her voice, the blame over the spiraling end of their marriage blunted by time, a book written, a summer in the Hamptons, and a new man in her life.

"You," she continued, eying him, the alcohol loosening her tongue a bit. "I've watched you chase women – God knows, I've watched you chase women." She paused for a moment, before adding softly, "To your credit, you were faithful." The corner of her mouth quirked up a little with her next words, "So explain this one - the one woman I've ever seen you seem to have real feelings for – enough to think of her _sometimes_ before you think of yourself – you're not even trying to sleep with. WHY?"

Castle let out a compressed breath of air between pursed lips and trotted out words he'd said to himself a million times, "She's with someone else who's a good guy and she deserves to be happy." (That sounded straight out of a soap opera, even to him, so he followed his words with a full swig of tequila.)

Gina almost snorted her tequila. "Oh, please. One, I saw her face when we were leaving the precinct, and it didn't look like the face of a woman in love with someone else. Two, this drivel is worse than your third book, and the only list that book made it to was the recyclables. Three, are we talking your character Shlemming? If he's anything like the book character, she's playing it safe because Jameson is a flake. " She leaned forward towards him, "You've never actually fought for a woman, Richard. You let Kyra walk – and I know you sure as hell didn't fight very hard for me - with me, yes, but not for me."

Rick finally met her eyes, his steadfast blue eyes curiously open. "I'm sorry, Gina." Silence fell between them in the wake of a deeper apology. She nodded her head and looked away over the water for a moment before turning back to him. "I know you, and I think I know a little about her. You'll do what you've always done – over the top, probably annoying, extravagantly larger than life. There's a time and place for that. That won't work on her. Our whole relationship was built on air – even the way you proposed to me." The expression on her face was a cross between a grimace and grin in memory of that particular hot air balloon ride. "It won't work with someone like Kate Beckett. Not that she won't appreciate it once in awhile, but if you're actually going to grow a pair of balls and be a man about this, I think you need to meet her wherever she is, and see her enough to do that. It has to be about her…and not some drivel about how she's better off without you because I know you well enough to know you don't actually believe that."

He stared at her for a long moment and then said in a hushed tone, "Thank you" with the ring of sincerity, followed rapidly by an unflatteringly awed, "How in the world did you get to sound so smart?"

Loaded up on tequila, he knew _exactly_ what Space Cowboy would send Kate. He loved his idea – it was brilliant! (If he did say so himself – and he did.) It was even better than a pony! Good thing the Black AmEx folks were used to eccentric requests.


	3. Prelude to the Fall

_Author's Note: _I re-arranged Chapters 1 and 2, rewrote bits of it, to lead up to this one - and somehow felt like I should change the name of the fic. It was such a surreal experience to not want to re-write them and yet feel like I have to. :) I hope the overall flow works better now. The segments are almost the same, though I bumped the short bit about Alexis visiting the precinct to the next one. I meant to have Castle NOT do something totally over the top but that didn't work out - he sort of had his own ideas. In a way, I think it's that lightness that is attractive while simultaneously annoying, so I think the challenge over time will be to let his depth show, not diminish his glee. I really welcome reviews and feedback! They've kept me going. Thank you.

* * *

How was it September already? Fall on the East Coast is a beautiful experience, with the vibrant changing of the leaves and the shifts in climate and temperature, and New York was no exception. Tall buildings made leaves swirl in circular patterns outside the old brownstone houses, and the very scent of the city itself changed. Things at the precinct were humming along. When asked by Ryan, Montgomery informed them all Castle was due back after Labor Day. City lawyers had a whole new stack of new liability wavers just waiting for him to sign.

Despite not really wanting to hear from Castle, Beckett concealed hurt feelings well when the shaving cream and beer arrived for Esposito and Ryan, and not a single word to her. She'd stepped into the break room for a cup of coffee when a commotion in the hallway got her attention. A most peculiar entourage was exiting the elevator, wearing the uniforms of the…Central Park Zoo?

Stepping back towards the bull pen, coffee long forgotten, she met Montgomery's gaze across the room and noted the wide smile on his face as looked directly at her. He had a cell phone to his ear, mouthing, "We'll let it just go this one time, Mayor. Yes, the folks from the zoo are arriving now."

A young woman in the lead with a painfully earnest face was carrying something tucked in a blanket, followed by a quartet of folks carrying various other gear. They stopped by her desk, and Kate slowly and cautiously approached, her eyes on whatever was in the blanket. It looked…black and white…and fuzzy…and far, far too cute to be in a police station.

"Are you Kate Beckett?", the woman carrying the bundle asked, her voice entirely too perky in the dead quiet of the station. Karpowski was half out of her desk, staring with her jaw open and Ryan and Esposito were jockeying to get a better view of Kate's face.

"Um…yes…Beckett here." A half confused, half suspicious expression with a lifted brow matched Beckett's wary tone. "What's going on?"

"My name's Jane, and this is the new precinct mascot! She's been adopted specifically for you and this department, though naturally she'll reside at the zoo. " Jane cooed and held up the baby panda for Kate's inspection. "Isn't she wonderful? You're her new adopted mommy! She was born just five months ago, and we can't have her away from her real mother for longer than a couple of hours, but Mr. Castle worked with the zoo officials to get her here for a bit." Jane sent Kate another blindingly bright smile as the baby panda cub opened his tiny mouth to yawn.

_Shut the Front Door! _Beckett stared at the panda in a sort of dumbstruck silence, distantly hearing a crack of laughter form Ryan and a hooted, "Beckett, you're a panda momma!", from Esposito. A conversation she'd had with Castle ages ago about her ex-boyfriend Will popped into her mind. _"Nice guy. I could see how it wouldn't work though….handsome, square-jawed, by the book." She'd asked, "And that's a bad thing?", to which he'd replied "Yeah, it's like the male you..."_

Jane held out the (probably tranquilized) panda cub to Beckett, who responded as she would to a small child, reaching out instinctively. "We've set up a special spot at the zoo for her, and a web cam so you can watch her grow. Her board and care is taken care of for the rest of her life, and you can visit her habitat whenever you want - it's even been named for you!"

One of the zoo team brought out a camera and started taking pictures of Beckett and the five-month-old panda cub as it opened its eyes up at her. It was really hard to keep wanting to kill Castle while holding a baby panda cub. The melty feelings kept overcoming homicidal and embarrassed ones. She could feel its heartbeat if she were still enough. The cub was a soothing, warm, soft, adorable weight in her arms, 20-25 pounds of mewling cute and she allowed a glowing smile to finally bloom on her face, so luminous as to make at least one of the zoo staff revise his stereotypes about cops and possibly rethink his cop fantasies. Helplessly cradling her own live fuzzy bear, Beckett looked at Jane and found her voice at last enough to ask, "What's her name?"

"Ying-Ying. Mr. Castle was very insistent that it was the perfect name for her."

She could hear Castle's voice in her head still saying "_Ying needs yang. Not another Ying. Ying-Yang.. Ying-Ying is... the name for a panda."_

* * *

This was totally better than Shark Week. The summer had been long and grueling for Ryan and Esposito. The Day of the Panda more than made up for it. Ryan put a picture of Beckett holding the panda up on the precinct bulletin board, and Esposito eluded Beckett's attempts to remove the photo on the flimsy excuse that the precinct needed a shot of their mascot and she should be proud of her baby. The priceless expression on her face in the photo made them grin every time they passed it for _months. _She was staring at it, cradled in her arms, brow furrowed with her teeth just nibbling her lower lip in something close to chagrin. It was the best mix of anger, irritated, flattered, and melted that they'd ever seen - the sort of mix only Castle could inspire. The betting pool on what Beckett was going to do to Castle the day he showed up was even bigger than the pool on their first date.

Beckett even got a text from her old high school friend Madison that said, "I heard you got a little Castle baby." She was never going to live this down.

* * *

He started packing up at the Hamptons before Labor Day weekend, excited to return to the precinct (and really, to see Kate). Something nagged him though, and he really needed a Voice of Reason, so he called Alexis and told her the panda story.

She exclaimed, "You adopted a what for her?...I'm sure it was adorable, but weren't you going to try NOT to do something over the top? Do something real?" On her end, she put a finger to her mouth, shushing Carter as he was about to say something to her. "Actually, Dad, I think it would creep her out more if you changed totally overnight, and I love you just like you are...Yes, I'm sure she'll decide Ying-Ying was the best gift ever... eventually."

Castle continued to be torn between glee at the gift, and an unfamiliar impulse to do something _less_ over-the-top. He hated second-guessing himself, and he was pretty sure annoying Beckett wasn't the best way to actually follow Gina's advice. The image of Kate holding the panda that he'd had the zoo folks email him was one of his favorites, currently occupying the center of his digital storyboard in high-res glory.

He thought about his time in the precinct, and a late evening when she'd admitted she actually liked his pulling her pigtails, the night she'd shot her mother's killer to save his life - and the one man they knew of who knew exactly who hired him to kill Johanna Beckett. It still made his heart ache a little that some of the most meaningful words anyone had said to him had been that night. Not the pigtails bit, but when she'd said, _"And some day soon I'm going to find the sons of bitches who had him kill her. And I'd like you around when I do."_

He spent the rest of Labor Day weekend doing the thing he knew best, next to writing and signing his name on the female anatomy without smearing the ink. He spent it doing research._ So...what do a law professor, a law student, a documents clerk, and a lawyer for a non-profit organization have in common?_

_

* * *

Author's Note: _Just to set expectations early, I'm not going to have them actually find her mother's killer. It's the gesture that counts, and maybe a little progress, but more an opportunity for him to show he cares. _  
_


	4. The Fear You Won't Fall

It was easier to spend most of the summer being mad when she thought about him, rather than sad. Not that there weren't also the moments when Beckett was pretty pissed, like with the release of the idiot article (laughably called news), but time has a way of offering perspective.

As much as she really didn't want to think about it, Beckett had three months to contemplate the events preceding Memorial Day weekend. She still thought about Agent Shaw's words, _"He cares about you, Kate. You may not see it. You may not be ready to. But he does."_ She thought about what Esposito said, _"Why do you think he's been following you around all this time? What…research? The guy's done enough research to write 50 books. Look, whatever the reason is, I'm pretty sure it doesn't include watching you be with another guy."_ And she thought of her own words,_ "It's complicated."_

The problem with being trained to look for different angles was that she found the moments it was hard to be angry with him. She knew she was guarded, shot down every attempt Castle made at a real relationship with her, and told him to his face that she didn't want things to be awkward while she was with Demming. Yet when Demming asked her what she wanted as she was ending it with him, she'd known in that moment clarity - the kind of clarity the slices through bullshit, the kind of clarity that comes with Truth. And in that truth, that the heart does want what the heart wants, and hers (_damnit_) wanted Castle. And if there was one thing that Beckett held dear as her own integrity, it was a commitment to Truth, even when it hurt – perhaps especially when it hurt.

And the Truth was that she really didn't want a life without him. The long summer reinforced that. She wasn't sure about what a life with him looked like, and not sure she was ready to do anything about it. But her life had more space, more air, more movement, more fun when he was around. The same man who walked out the precinct with his ex-wife was also the same man who found and fixed her father's watch, and who'd broken down a door for her. (It still made her smile a tiny bit to think about him telling her the story, affirming life for both of them.)

Unfortunately, when the clue-hammer hits, it doesn't come with instructions with what to do with it - which would have been handy since Castle was coming back in a few days. And he'd sent her a freaking panda – named Ying-Ying. What the hell was she supposed to do with that?

* * *

Little Castle showed up at the precinct before Castle did, dropping by with a young man in tow who was in the Princeton summer program with her. Alexis introduced him to Beckett as Carter, and Beckett could see the signs of mutual teen infatuation on their young faces. (Beckett already loved the fact that Castle was going to have conniptions over him. Her smile widened as she shook hands with Carter, just thinking about it.)

Alexis mentioned, just before parting, "My dad's already driving home and said he was really excited to come back – though thank goodness he left Gina in the Hamptons with her new boyfriend." _Interesting_. There is no way that a teenager as bright as Alexis wasn't aware of what she was communicating, and the slightly overplayed casual air tipped her hand. There was also no way that Beckett was going to obviously respond but a little extra squeeze in her good-bye hug to Alexis at least said that the thought was appreciated.

* * *

Castle and Alexis had a joyous reunion back at the loft, celebrating on the rooftop deck of his building with the illegal fireworks he'd hoarded all summer. He was none too pleased to see Carter, the guy Alexis had met before the program began, coming over to visit. Alas, the background check he'd bribed Ryan into doing for him hadn't yielded anything too suspicious, so he was prepared to not utterly humiliate Alexis by being relatively tolerant and keeping the nefarious plans he had percolating in the back of his mind to himself.

More than that, he was feeling downright buoyant in the knowledge Kate and Demming weren't dating. He had it on the very best authority at his own poker table the night after Big Rick returned to the Big Apple. He heard it from the Mayor who heard it from the Commissioner who heard it from Captain Montgomery. (It was very Gotham meets Sex and the City.) Esposito and Ryan had been somewhat tight-lipped over the summer about Beckett, and he didn't want to be more obvious about his feelings by asking (since he was already about as subtle as a panda bear in a police station). Plus, he hadn't wanted to know any details of how her relationship with Demming was going – but since it wasn't going now (and since his talk with Gina), he wanted to know all about it.

He tried calling Lanie to get more details. He really should have known better. She hung up on him after letting him know that if he tried pumping her for information again, he'd end up looking like a real panda daddy.

He called Esposito and Ryan, who firmly refused to get between "mom and dad" and it wasn't worth their lives to spill, but they were at least enthusiastic about the new precinct mascot.

Still, knowing Kate was single had Castle bouncing restlessly til Martha provided a reality check that deflated him like a punctured balloon. "Do you really think that just because she's not dating this Lemming guy anymore that all the reasons she never let you in don't exist, especially after you walked out the door with your arm around your ex-wife? Honestly, Richard, for a man surrounded by women, how is it possible you're this dense?" A reviewer of one of his mother's Broadway shows raved about the range of her voice. It was definitely penetrating. He didn't bother to correct her about Demming's name. She might look him up on MyFace.

* * *

Castle came in unprecedentedly early to surprise her. He sat in her chair, and decided he'd save her the trouble of bringing him up to date on her cases by familiarizing himself with her murder boards and the files on her desk, adjusting her chair to accommodate his longer legs. Two cups of Dean and Deluca coffee and a bear claw sat on the edge of her desk. The precinct was slowly starting to fill with people starting their shifts, and he traded greetings and ribbings with the folks he knew, still waiting for his own team to arrive.

His eyes were on the elevator doors when they open and Beckett has finally arrived. He's thought about how to play this a thousand times, and realized he has no idea how it's going to go. He watched her walk towards him, swallowed down the nervousness, and abruptly jumped out of her chair and back into his. The writer in him cataloged the details in the distant part of his brain that wasn't subsumed by excitement. She had the flush of a recent trip to the gym, her hair a little longer with more highlights from the summer sun, her expression pretty unreadable as she walked towards him.

She settled into her routine, taking off her coat, sitting in her chair. She reached down to re-adjust the height of her seat, a wry quirk to her lips the first more overt expression on her face, all the while barely breaking her gaze from his. He's barely breathing - she half expects him to start hyperventilating. He's got an expression she knows well - eager and slightly anxious - and something she can't quite put her finger on. "Thanks for the bear, Castle."

"You liked it?" His voice was eager, boyish, his body leaned in a little. "Wasn't she cute? Did you know that pandas have the lowest birth weight to eventual size ratio of all mammals and that they're only three ounces at birth?"

"Don't push it, Castle. The main reason you're not handcuffed to the desk right now is Esposito has a hundred riding on it. I already tried to get you arrested for unauthorized wildlife in a government building, but Montgomery wouldn't press charges. The upside is that I'm getting more jokes at my expense for the panda than cover art for Naked Heat...and _Ying-Ying_ really was amazingly cute." She paused and took a breath, then asked casually as she turned back to her paperwork and started flipping through a file folder, "So, do you want to hear about this case? It involves strangulation by puppetry, as far as we can tell."

* * *

_Author's Note_: What started as a few drabbles or a one-shot at most has turned into something more. I'm still boggled at myself. Another new learning is that it's amazing how motivational reviews are. Any feedback (what you liked, didn't, what struck you, made sense or doesn't) is all welcome. :)


	5. Falling Back, Falling Forward

"I missed you this summer." He leans in closer to her, using staring upwards at a vic at a crime scene as an excuse to be right in her personal space - not that he'd ever really needed one to just make himself right at home there, within her boundaries.

His sense of timing continues to be impeccably irreverent. They were in an obscure New York nightclub that used sophisticated puppeteering to execute cheeky risque vignettes.

"Focus, Castle!" she hisses under her breath. They were standing not five feet from Lanie, who was staring up at the body, making notes - and then sends them a long, suspicious look. The body hangs suspended from the ceiling, the neck bent at an improbable angle, strings tied to all the limbs.

Castle opens his mouth about to retort, when a detail of scripting across the victim's torso catches his eye. "Does that tattoo really say 'pull my string, I dare you'?"

* * *

They stood in a marionette shop. Castle is touching things, like he always does. Beckett moves towards the front of the shop, shooting him an all-too-familiar exasperated look on her way to finding the proprietor of the little hole-in-the wall shop.

An unusually tall woman slinks out through the curtains, wearing a corset, a cloak, and dangling a puppet from a hand that's had the hell manicured out of it. She vamps over to Castle almost immediately, giving Beckett a moment for a huffed breath and eye roll before the consummate professional takes over and she flashes her badge.

They slide into an old groove interrogating together, playing a coordinated tag team with a synchronicity that almost makes it seem like they haven't been apart all summer at all.

Weird Vamp Puppet Lady watches them as much as they watch her, before her posh pseudo-Brit accent slips into pure Jersey and asks, "The two of you together?"

Beckett responds habitually with, "No."

Castle says, "Not yet", and then turns to look at Beckett and adds, "...but someday," in a softer tone that has her staring at him for a long moment, holding her gaze and taking the satisfaction of watching her mouth open and close before her presence of mind re-emerges and she turns again back to their interrogation. "I have a few more questions about Mr. Tate."

* * *

"So it was the mistress who set the stage up because she..."

"...wanted something symbolic of all the strings..."

"...and the blackmailer stopped getting payments so she sent someone else..."

"...who found the body and then ransacked the place looking for the book of..."

"...which he then tried to sell on the black market..."

"...and got picked up by one of the victim's wives - who designed the puppets!"

It doesn't matter which of them starts. They're finishing each other's sentences.

Esposito and Ryan watch Castle and Beckett, leaning closer to one another. "They're doing it again. This has to be the longest foreplay in the universe," Esposito mutters to Ryan as they watch Beckett and Castle whose faces are a mere handspan apart, eyes meeting, shared excitement in their gazes, their two partners forgotten in the oblivion of the moment.

For Beckett, it's one of the things she's missed most over the summer, someone who doesn't just keep up but really, truly matches her in these moments. He's missed how hot she looks when she's passionately engaged and it gets him wondering about other things.

Castle lets his eyes drop to her lips, and notices her swallow...

...right before Ryan, slipping Esposito a ten behind his back, chooses exactly that moment to call out, "Does that mean we should get a warrant for the club?"

* * *

They're catching a late-night burger at Remy's and splitting a strawberry milkshake when he abruptly changes the subject from the case to the personal.

"There wasn't anything between Gina and I. Well, aside from being married once. And she's my publisher. But I mean, no funny business this summer. I just wanted you to know." Her burger stops halfway through her mouth. She stays silent, and then nods once in both acknowledgment and thanks.

His words drizzle off before he adds, "You were not asking pretty loudly."

"I was not!" she contests hotly.

He gives her a disappointed puppy dog eyes looking before resuming his burger and silence falls again between them - a very pointed sort of silence.

"I broke it off with Tom before your going away party." Her words are simple, no other attendant words or explanation, except to add as he eagerly leans forward, "You were not asking pretty loudly."

His eyes have lit up and he's leaning way in, more words from his very mouthy mouth ready to spill forward.

She puts her finger on his lips. "Shhh ….Don't..."

And because he can still finish her sentences, he knows where she's going, the kind of space she needs, understands that words said can't be unsaid...he pops a fry in her mouth.

When he goes home that night, he can't sleep, thinking of what she might've said if Gina hadn't shown up, if he hadn't left for the summer, if he'd _known_. He gets up and does what he's spent many nights lately doing - research.

* * *

It's not that she doesn't keep thinking about these moments, that it doesn't affect her when he tells her he's missed her, allowing hope to crack some of the guards she has around her heart. Part of is that she's starting to allow herself to enjoy the dance and doesn't want to rush it. Part of it is that surrendering to the unknown has never come easy to her.

* * *

The precinct gang is over for poker again, with Martha presiding over the beer and snack counter by the kitchen. The sound of ribald laughter and good company fills Castle's living room, all of them welcoming the crackling of the fire as fall ebbs away and the first chill of winter bites.

Montgomery wins the first game pretty handily, and Lanie totally cleans everyone out on the second. The third game gets down to Castle and Beckett and they're eying each other challengingly. Martha stage whispers, "Uh-oh, his foot is tapping," and Beckett has a small smile on her face.

Castle leans his elbows on his poker table, laying his cards down. "So tell me, Detective, what are you willing to bet?"

"All in," she declares decisively to the hoots of her team and high-fives Ryan before taking a swig of her beer bottle.

"Really?" Castle challenges, "I'm going to call your bluff. I think you talk a big game but when it comes down to the chips on the table, you're scared of what I might have in my hand."

She scoffs at him. "When you finally show your hand, we'll see which of us really has game."

She wins, not because he lets her, but because she's really damn good. But she recognizes as he helps her put her coat on at the door, and grips her hand briefly before letting her leave, that she hasn't anted up yet to the real challenge.

* * *

He burns the midnight oil with the kind of obsession normally reserved for his books, but it's worth it. Some of it is frustrating, dead end leading to nowhere, with obscure references and obfuscating records. He started with public records of the non-profits, its ostensible mission and what financial records of it exist. He checks out profiles of their board members. He delves into the history of the documents clerk to try to figure out what she was working on. And he looks not at how Kate's mother died, but what she was doing.

Johanna Beckett was consulting on a case related to a specific type of asylum status related to gender-based violence and human trafficking. He learned that human trafficking is the fastest growing and most profitable black market industry in the world, and organized crime had their fingers all over it. He used old contacts from his book projects to ask questions. Some of them told him flat out to not go any further.

What he knew after collating his notes was that he was way in over his head. He called Jordan Shaw, who confirmed the burgeoning direction of his thoughts – namely, that it was far too big for him to take on himself, or even for him and Kate. The bigger danger in proceeding if he continued blundering in would be putting Kate in danger – and he wasn't willing to do that. It wasn't impossible – just freakishly difficult, and would call for more resources and much more cautious, careful consideration of next moves. It was time to tell Beckett.

* * *

_Author's Note_: First, I appreciate hugely all the reviews to date. They've made me smile every time and indisputably keep me going and encouraged. Second, I'm debating whether to take this fic to the resolution of the "will they/won't they" in the next chapter, with an epilogue, OR whether to just keep carrying on through some of their early dating life. I think there's a lot of potential to touch fun aspects of their early relationship. I suppose I could just make that a start a second fic - it was only last week that I never thought I'd write a first one...and I couldn't resist writing a wedding scene - for way later down the line (like 2 yrs down). Maybe I'll toss it into the epilogue just 'cause. Anyway - I would especially appreciate feedback on this. This had the most unknown territory me between Johanna Beckett's murder and even the poker game. On the fact side, human trafficking IS one of the biggest, most serious, and most profitable illegal industries globally that's run by organized crime, and asylum law for gender-based violence even in the U.S. has some serious holes in it.


	6. Bud in Winter

_Author's Note: _One of the things I was intrigued about was Kate's background before her mother's death - her summer modeling, a semester in Kiev studying Russian literature, books about art and architecture in her apartment. I was reading an interview with the set designer for her apartment before it blew in "Boom", talking about finding just the perfect mismatched pieces like a parrot teapot that she might've found in some antique store. He says in the interview, "I just see her wandering, and always going to galleries...She's interested in the world. So she goes there, and she finds art that kind of connects to her. There's nothing matching in her apartment. There's never a pair of anything. And I thought that was really important." I also really wanted her couch from that set. You can thank Kavi Leighanna for this Kate-Alexis scene.

* * *

It's a wintry Sunday afternoon between cases, and Kate really doesn't want to clean her apartment but doesn't want to leave its warmth either. She's thinking about calling Lanie when her phone rings and it's Alexis who wants to talk about something personal, so Kate invites her over.

Alexis rings the doorbell a scant fifteen minutes later, and looks around the new place curiously. The apartment is still sparse, but what's there is an eclectic mix of vintage and modern pulled together with a clean aesthetic sense. The main piece of furniture in the living space is a couch on a rug in inviting shades of muted blue-green, and a bench is pulled up to a sanded antique door balanced across two sawhorses for a dining table. A Boscoreale Panel reproduction from the Met lies unhung against the bare brick wall that comprises one side of the new loft.

Alexis points at it curiously. "Fresco from Pompeii?" she asks, and Kate smiles. "Yeah. I saw it at the Met store on sale over the summer, and it somehow seemed apropos since my apartment blew. Besides, I find the colors amazing."

Alexis agrees with a vigorous nod. "Dad brought me there when I was twelve. It really is amazing how much was preserved and has endured…"

"I'd love to see it someday. I never made it as far south in Europe as Italy and would love to go." She holds a hand out invitingly towards the couch. "Come make yourself comfortable. I'll make us some hot chocolate and you can tell me what's up."

"It's about Carter." There's a painfully earnest look on Alexis' face as she sinks into the couch. "He's really attentive and smart and thoughtful…and really, really cute. I just keep seeing Owen at school, and that was just so depressing when it ended." Her last words come out on a rush, "I just don't want to get hurt. And Carter has these girls falling all over him all the time."

Kate's half tempted to talk about apple carts and people who upset them as she starts the prep for the cocoa. She does one of the things she does best in a style wholly Kate, different than Martha or even Castle. She just asks questions in a compassionate, empathetic way, surfacing fears and assumptions, letting Alexis vocalize what's inside her head and listen to herself.

Alexis settles in and talks about Carter, the summer, the transition back with school starting, and the complexities of her life. "I guess I'm just scared. But I won't know what'll happen if I don't go out with him, will I?"

Kate shoots Alexis a soft smile, bringing over a mug filled with hot cocoa for the redhead while retaining one for herself. (The parallel isn't lost on her – Castle brings her coffee, she brings cocoa for little Castle.) "My mom always said that life never delivers anything that we can't handle, and it took me a long time to get that. One of her favorite authors was Kafka. He has this great line, 'You can hold back from suffering of the world, you have permission to do so, and it is in accordance with your nature, but perhaps this very holding back is the one suffering you could have avoided.'_" _Kate takes a slow sip of cocoa, aware of the great gift of the whole of Alexis' attention. "Sometimes there are really good reasons for not moving forwards and only you can figure that out for yourself. But if the reason is just fear, then what's the point of life itself? I'm listening to you tell me how you feel, not just about him, but how you feel around him. It seems like whatever the future holds, you have something you're really feeling alive in the middle of, and regardless of what happens, really, having a life with that in it seems pretty amazing."

Alexis is quiet for a moment, absorbing the thoughts and the camaraderie before her smile blooms, the shine echoed in the bright blue of her eyes. "Thanks, Kate. This time with him really is amazing. And thanks for listening to me." She drinks some of her cocoa. "By the way, this is _really_ good!"

Kate grins affectionately at the teen. "I'm happy to listen. And it was my mother's recipe – the secret is a touch of maple syrup and vanilla."

They chat idly a little longer, Kate asks about the semester and how school is going and they gab with an easy flow between them until the dark sky outside alerts them to the passing of time and Alexis departs after a quick hug in a swirl of long red hair.

Kate washes the cups out after Alexis leaves, swearing as she realizes she keeps forgetting to replace the dishtowels in the kitchen. She flops on the couch after putting everything away, and picks up the phone to call Lanie. "I just told Alexis to not let fear get in the way of living life – I think it's probably about time I started walking my own talk."

* * *

Something's up with Castle – she knows him too well to think otherwise. He gets messages on his schmancy phone and abruptly ducks somewhere to take them. She calls him about crime scenes and he shows up a wee bit late. She starts wondering if he's seeing someone again, but he doesn't have the smug post-Ellie Monroe morning air that she can read like a book when he comes in - just the dark circles under his eyes. And really - what she's recognized in a way that frightens her a little, that she almost can't quite believe, is that there hasn't been anyone else in his sights since he's gotten back from the Hamptons. She's not sure what that says yet, but she recognizes the weight of it, knowing it's her.

It tips her off when he calls her Kate and asks her to come over.

When she gets to his place, Alexis lets her in with a bouncy hello and points the way to Castle's office, where he's pacing in front of his desk. Kate's attention is momentarily caught by a framed image of herself holding Ying-Ying on his desk. His spiffy electronic murderboard-like storyboard is up, and instead of the next obnoxious Nikki Heat title like "Mating Heat" or something, she sees her mother's name.

He looks at her with an intensity unalleviated by lightness, something she's only seen a few times - the time he told her to sit down at the hospital and said, "It's about your mother." The time he offered to not shadow her anymore the night she had to shoot Coonan to save his life. It makes her stomach clench.

"What's up, Castle?" The tone of her voice is wary.

"Have a seat. I have something I want to tell you."

She does sit, actually, and he lays out in front of her what he's found, the trails he's followed, the people he's contacted, the conclusions he's come to. She asks probing questions, making sense of what makes sense, seeing the holes and the twists in what really doesn't make sense. The sheer breadth of the work he's put in is just plain impressive, and the more it's revealed, the more touched she is on the heart-level, and intellectually engaged in the challenges he's faced – and the challenges in front of them.

"This is a lot to take in. I'm…amazed. Wow." She becomes aware her heartbeat is thudding in her ears. She trying as hard as she can to focus on what he's pulled together, but there's an overriding question. This is far beyond being about the Beckett onion.

Silence falls, and she sits with her chin propped on her knuckles with her elbows on her knees for a long time before asking simply, "Why?"

He hunches down beside her chair. Part of him wants to make a wiseass comment, to keep it light, but it's one of those small-but-enormous choice points. "Somewhere along the way," he says, keeping his voice soft, "what's important to you, Kate – you and not Nikki Heat - became important to me. And this...this was important to you. And I wanted to find a way to show you that you'd take more seriously than Ying-Ying that you're..." He paused, the corner of his mouth lifting in a lopsided little smile, "...you're the yin to my yang."

She can't help an eye-roll at that, and a smile that's a bit nervous. She takes a deep breath that's shakier than she wants it to be, though calmer than she expected. "You chose a hell of a game changer," she finally says.

"I will do anything you want, or nothing at all – that offer still stands in relation to your mother and always has. You're more than a partner to me, or a muse, or friend. I'm not sure what you are, or what you could be, but I have hope and ideas, and I'd like the chance with you to find out." He lets the words lie, before adding quietly, "Think about it."

She's in that state between numb and overfull as she accepts the thumb drive he gives her with all the data related to her mother, and slides it into her pocket. "Want a drink?" he offers, and she shakes her head, getting to her feet and checking her watch. "Not tonight, we're bringing in the perp on the Caroll case early for questioning…You've given me a lot to think about, and I should head home. Let's talk about my mother's case tomorrow."

He nods, and if he's disappointed, it doesn't overtly show as he walks her to the door.

Before she steps out, she lifts her eyes to his and says, "I've already been thinking about us. I want to bat, not sit in the dugout even if we might strike out, Rick. Not just because of this, even though I'm more grateful than I can say….but for a lot of other reasons."

It's like she's illuminated a bonfire in his being, but he keeps himself controlled like a cocker spaniel on tight leash. "How about we start easy? Dinner Friday night?" He waits for her to nod, before leaning in almost as though he'd kiss her and her breath catches. Instead, his lips brush her cheek and she can feel his mouth move against her skin as he murmurs, "I'll pick you up Friday at 7." His grin is boyish as he draws back and adds, "This time I get to drive."

* * *

_Author's Note 2: _This was a darned pain in the ass to write. :p He does big things, but the thing is, I found I wanted to keep the reasons they start down the romantic road to not be only about that, so there's this weird element of trying to keep their starting dating separate from her mother's case. I'm not going to necessarily do a lot more development with them discovering more about her mother's case other than as plot support, rather than a main piece, mainly because I don't think I could do the complexity credit. I think it would take a LOT of writing. I may keep working on this, even though it's posted. Thanks for all the feedback and encouragement! I'm considering ending it here (possibly with an epilogue), and transitioning to another fic, since I suspect once they start dating, the rating will have to go up. We'll see! :)


	7. Endings and Beginnings

When he finally shows at the precinct the next day, it's mid-morning and there's an ebb in the traffic in the precinct, a momentary lull of relative quiet. Esposito and Ryan are out tracking down a victim's next of kin, and Beckett's sitting at her desk typing in few quick notes. He slides into his spot, and for once doesn't start talking. Instead, he watches her like he's done a thousand times before.

She flicks a glance at him. "Castle, it's still creepy."

"Kaa-ate," he singsongs back. "It's still fun. And I still like looking at you. And we still have a date on Friday, right?"

She reaches out with nimble fingers to grip his ear until he mouths "apples, apples" at her. "Right…And we also still have something called a professional relationship." She rises from the chair and snares her purse. "Come on, Castle, got a call about a homicide. And no…you can't drive." She turns away and walks towards the elevators while he scrambles to follow her. He really loves the way she walks.

To ease the blow, she sends him a smoky look as she stands innocuously next to him on the elevator as it descends, and adds in a teasing undertone. "And if you don't piss me off too much, you might find out what I'm wearing under this trench coat, Rick."

He brightens, and quips, "As long as it's not what you had underneath the first time you came to my Halloween party."

* * *

Lanie calls Esposito up, catching him while he's driving back to the precinct. "You owe me a twenty. Castle and Beckett have their date this Friday night."

He groans, though he can't be too mad given what he lost the money on. He's grinning as he turns to Ryan as they're stopped at a light in Manhattan's mid-town. "They finally have a real date. Montgomery is going to be pissed – he was thinking there was no way anything's starting until at least Christmas."

The car is quiet for a moment before Ryan muses, "What do you think they're doing for a first date? Think Castle's going all out with the fancy dinner?"

Esposito considers it. "Nah, too overdone. It's probably what he does with other women. If I were him, I'd do something different, switch it up a little. I could see Castle ordering in and getting all smooth with the candles and music."

"On a first date? I don't think so!"

"Bet you."

"You're on!"

* * *

Castle and Beckett arrive at a crime scene. While Beckett talks to the owner of the goth club, Castle wanders over to where Lanie is taking notes beside the victim. The vic's body is splayed on the floor, a pool of blood congealing with sparkly motes all through it as though a murdering pixie went on a glitter-rampage all over the scene of the crime.

"Do you think this is the work of the sparkly Twilight vampires?", Castle asks irreverently, hunkering down and leaning in next to Lanie.

She gestures as though indicating something about the corpse, tiling her head closer to his to whisper in an undertone, "Just so you know, if you do anything too stupid to my girl, I know exactly what to write up in your autopsy report." She sends him a sassy smile and goes back to taking notes.

* * *

When they get back to the precinct, Castle notices how tired Beckett looks and rises to get a cup of coffee. As he's heading to the break room, Ryan and Esposito catch him on his way in and frog march him down to the locker room. Esposito says in a low, jovial tone, "Yo, we hear you have a date with Beckett."

Ryan continues, "We're happy if she's happy, but if you're the one that makes her unhappy – like more unhappy than the time you dug into her mother's case…"

Esposito chimes in with, "...or more annoyed than the time you filched her case files and she arrested you…"

They slowly start to back Castle against the lockers.

Ryan adds, "…more pissed off than the time you were Bachelor Number 9 with Beckett's name linked to yours in the Times…"

Esposito grins at Ryan, sharing the memory, before coming up with, "…more unhappy than the time you set up the date with the prostitute…" (Ryan adds, "That was sweet, bro. We loved it.")

"…or the time your cell phone went off in the middle of a bust and it was Deep Fried Twinkie calling…"

Ryan breaks in with, "…and what about that time he was drooling over Agent Shaw's equipment?"

Esposito sends Ryan a perturbed look. "Man, stop finishing my sentences!"

Castle breaks into their banter before they remind him of _everything_ he's ever done to make Beckett less than happy with, "Guys, I get the picture. Your point?"

They both lean in close to him, breathing in his face, and Esposito ends with,"The point is…if you make her unhappy, we'll know. And you will not be a happy man after the _entire precinct_ is through with you...Kitten."

Ryan's smirk is painfully smug. "But hey, good luck!"

They both abruptly grin, high-five each other, slap Castle on the back, and start heading out of the locker room, leaving Castle trotting after them in their wake.

As they return to bull pen, Beckett watches them with an air of suspicion. "Just what were you guys up to?"

"Nothing much," Ryan replies smoothly, as Esposito chimes in right after with, "Just teaching Castle some new defense moves down at the gym."

She clearly doesn't believe them, giving them a long look with slightly narrowed eyes before turning back to her computer to continue typing in some case notes. Castle backpedals rapidly towards the break room, glancing over his shoulder at the duo.

The moment her back is turned again, Esposito and Ryan mime eyes-watching-you gestures to Castle with mock menace.

* * *

At the end of the day, as Castle's about to leave, Montgomery calls Castle into his office. "Hey, Castle. Looking forward to poker Wednesday night. Appreciate that you finally got the balls to ask Beckett out. I got a pretty penny off the Mayor. He was pretty sure you'd be back in her good graces after Ying-Ying showed up, but I thought it'd take awhile longer." Montgomery fixes Castle with a stern look. "Just so you know though…all bets are off if you - "

Castle spreads his hands, his best innocent look plastered on his face as he interrupts defensively, "I got the point! I got the point!"

* * *

When he gets home, Martha's over at the house sipping a cocktail and Alexis is practicing her violin in the living room. "Hey, kiddo, how was your day?"

He heads straight to the fridge for a beer. "Hi Mother." He uncaps the beer and takes a long swig before turning to her. "I've been threatened before, but... never by an entire police department. That's new."

* * *

As a writer, he had a great memory. She'd said no the first time he asked her to dinner, not wanting to be another notch on his bedpost – though he was more than happy at the time to be a notch on hers. As he eagerly anticipated their first date, he wasn't thinking of trying to be a notch (though he'd lose his man-card if the fantasy hadn't crossed his mind several thousand times over the past couple of years). He just really wanted her to have a good time.

As a detective, she had a great memory. She'd said no the first time he asked her to dinner, not wanting to be another notch on his bedpost - though sometimes when she woke up in the middle of the night alone, she wondered if even a notch didn't have some perks. She still didn't want to be a notch, but this time she was pretty darned sure she wouldn't be – and that made all the difference.

* * *

He remembers the moment he absolutely, without a doubt, knew after he met her that he wasn't willing to let her just walk away. It wasn't when she hauled him in for questioning at the launch party of his last Storm novel. (He'd been intrigued at the time .) It wasn't when she arrested him in the New York Public Library. (Actually, he thought that was kind of hot.) It wasn't when she'd handcuffed him to her car. (That was just plain annoying, because he'd really wanted to follow her.)

It was when he suggested to her they might have been good together and she'd walked over to him and whispered into his ear, "You have no idea."

He was really looking forward to finding out.

* * *

_Author's Note:_ I went for a lighter mood for the ending. Hope you've enjoyed!

This has been a pretty stressful week from a work perspective, and it's been a huge surprise to me that writing fanfic for the first time in my life ended up being a bit of an escape and stress relief. The bit with Esposito and Ryan with Castle in the locker room is expanded due to the reviews of Oasis Blackmore. It's been a huge added bonus to get thoughtful encouragement from strangers - really want to thank Kavi Leighanna again for setting off this whole journey, my sister, and really all the awesome reviewers. (I started going back and listing y'all by name, but ran into the really lovely problem of it being a long list.) Consider this a bow of gratitude because I really don't think it would've progressed beyond the one-shot drabbles I initially intended. And just for y'all, I actually have their first two dates outlined so expect them up in the next few days as a new fic.


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